Building boom in the Caucasus - Europe - International Herald Tribune

CHKHALTA, Georgia: — Until a little more than two months ago, the Kodori Gorge was a far-flung outpost where local militiamen ruled and the 2,500 residents lived simple but isolated lives, growing grapes and tending pigs far from the Georgian government's concerns.

But with Georgia locked in a bitter struggle to control the regions south of Russia in the Caucasus Mountains, the gorge is rapidly being transformed. The militia has been run off by government soldiers. New schools, homes and government buildings have been built, courtesy of the Georgian government. The area has even been given a new name: Upper Abkhazia.

"Civilization is appearing," said Olga Kordzaya, a doctor in Kodori for 20 years. Her newly renovated hospital now has three doctors, an ambulance service and, most important, Kordzaya said, links to the outside world.

The government's new attentions are part of a larger campaign to gain control of two separatist republics - Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

But now Georgia is trying a new approach, hoping to entice the republics into the fold by showing what can be gained by pledging allegiance to the government in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital.

Georgia also wants to send a message to Russia, which it blames for supporting the separatist republics. Russia has troops in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, ostensibly to keep the peace while the republics negotiate their status, and Georgia wants them to leave.

The situation in these regions, President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia said in an interview, "could not be more difficult in any way." But by building up Kodori, Saakashvili added, Georgia wants to show Russia that it can handle its own affairs.

For more than a decade, Emzar Kvitsiani, the commander of the Hunters, a paramilitary group, ruled Kodori. He maintained a tenuous allegiance to Tbilisi but exercised a great deal of autonomy here.

Then in July, after trying without success to disband the militia and bring Kodori under control, the Georgian government sent in troops.

Though Kvitsiani escaped the fighting, which left at least one dead and several wounded, the government established its authority over Kodori, a major step, officials have said, in returning all of Abkhazia to Georgian control.

Officials in the region's new government describe the land they found when they returned as rundown and neglected. The spot in the gorge's main village, Chkhalta, where a new bright pink administrative building now stands, was literally a pigsty, they said.

The security situation in Kodori is still unstable. "The biggest danger is from armed units from the rest of Abkhazia and Russia," said Aleksandr Aplakov, the region's new minister of education and culture. Police units operate checkpoints on bridges and, armed with machine guns, patrol the mountains and border areas. While most of the armed groups not loyal to Tbilisi have been driven out, officials said, there are still a few dangerous enclaves.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

Because of his decision to take Kodori by force, Saakashvili has been widely criticized for inflaming an already tense situation, and in particular for further eroding his country's relationship with Russia, once a major trading partner.

Moscow has warned the Georgian government, which is vigorously pursuing membership in NATO, to halt what it calls anti-Russian policies, and has promised increasingly harsh measures to punish Georgia for its defiance. It has shown no signs of repealing the embargo on Georgian wine it began in March.

After Georgia arrested four Russian officers on espionage charges last week, the Russian authorities essentially blockaded the country, cutting off air, land and sea transportation. The police have also shut several Georgian businesses in Russia.

Saakashvili has remained defiant. "People must get rid of illusions that they can destroy us," he said.

While Saakashvili has played down, though not discounted, the threat of Russian military action in Georgia, residents in Kodori, where the violence has only recently abated, said they felt more insecure.

Many here said that they still worried about the prospect of war and that they were skeptical of Tbilisi's plans for the region.

"For me, there is a big question mark," said Mikiani Anzar, who was born in Kodori but now lives in Tbilisi so that his children can attend better schools. "There is hope, but there are also dangers."

Still, residents who fled the violence in Kodori have begun to return, officials said. According to Jguburia Vakhtang, the region's minister of finance, about 700 people have come back.

Amara Serediani, director of Kodori's new school, expects 15 new students this year. "When the situation gets better, more children appear," she said.

Even without the military threat, life is difficult for Kodori's residents. The one road that connects Kodori's small villages - really just collections of shacks - is best traversed by four- wheel-drive vehicles or on horseback. Without a helicopter, even reaching Kodori is a challenge.

The government has tried to ease some of these hardships. The newly built and renovated buildings in Kodori are painted in bright colors, which Saakashvili says will help to raise people's spirits. There are also two new soccer fields and plans to build a movie theater and an Internet café with some of the money from the $10 million-a- year budget that the Georgian government allocated for the region.

Kodori's future is still uncertain. "We'll live and see," said Nukzar Arguliani, a lifelong resident who has refused to abandon his home. "We will be here to the end."